Swiss police have raided one of the homes of billionaire
Beny Steinmetz, said to be Israel's richest person, according to a person
familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous.
Bloomberg reported that the raid was ordered by Geneva’s
public prosecutor following a request by the government of Guinea and occurred
within the last two weeks. No documents were taken away, the person said.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, 57-year-old
Steinmetz has a net worth of $7.4 billion. His mining company, BSG Resources
Ltd., owns a 51% stake in the Simandou iron ore deposit in Guinea.
The west African country is reviewing mining licenses
including Simandou’s. In April, a US grand jury investigation began into claims
that bribes were paid by BSG Resources for mining rights in Guinea, Bloomberg
reported.
Henri Della Casa, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in
Geneva, declined to comment on the raid. The public relations offices of the
Geneva police was unavailable for comment. Ian Middleton, a spokesman for BSG Resources
in London, declined to comment as well.
According to Bloomberg, last month Geneva’s public
prosecutor said it had opened an investigation at Guinea's request into Onyx
Financial Advisors UK, a London-based company whose chief executive officer,
Dag Cramer, is a director of BSG Resources.
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